The present invention pertains to an electronic control system for selecting vehicle options.
Modern vehicles are typically manufactured to accommodate different levels of options. For ease of manufacture and cost reduction, all vehicles of a given car line may include wiring harness, connectors and mounting structure to allow such different levels of options to be selectively added either during manufacturing or by the dealer. Thus for example, even though a vehicle may have electrically operated windows but manual door locks, the wiring for electrical locks will be included in the door panels. Also some optional features such as express windows (i.e. a momentary touch of the control activates a window to a full down or up position) only require existing circuits to be programmed or a module added to allow such operation.
In recent years, and spawned by the increase of vehicle thefts, vehicle electronics have included keypad or remote controlled so-called keyless entry systems for vehicles. When remotely coded infrared or radio frequency control signals are employed for unlocking and locking vehicle doors or a vehicle trunk. Such systems frequently provide anti-theft alarms and the convenience o secure access to a vehicle without the need for fumbling with keys and physically unlocking a vehicle door or trunk.
One proposed system, in addition to the unlocking and locking of vehicle doors and trunk, also controls the activation of the interior lights of the vehicle and can deactivate the vehicle's starter and fuel supply circuits for anti-theft protection. While such a system includes more features than a simple remote keyless entry system as exemplified, for example, by U.S. Pat. No. 3,760,422; it does not accommodate the needs of different drivers of a single vehicle or provide other vehicle control functions. Thus for example, for personal security reasons, one driver may want only the driver door to unlock remotely, while another driver of the same vehicle may want all of the doors to unlock with the actuation of the control button on their remote transmitter used in connection with the same shared vehicle. One proposed remotely controlled anti-theft system provides a multi-code system for different driver codes and suggests limited different control responses such as different odometer selections, speed control limits and the like.